Messages - wmroyal

To the OP, I'm not even sure this is something you need to disclose. I think they are referring to more serious things like plagiarism, etc.

Call up the schools you are interested in, don't mention your name, and just say you have a question about the application. Ask if they want you to disclose this type of offense. No need to complicate things if that's not what they are looking for.

OP, disclose it. They don't give a poop about that kind of stuff and it gives you an opportunity to show them that you would prefer to err on the side of honesty. I had the exact same thing happen to me my freshman year, I disclosed it, and I don't feel like it ever hurt me. It certainly wasn't ever addressed in any of my interactions with admissions staffs. You can see my numbers and acceptance stats on lsn under the same screen name.

I don't mind that some of y'all don't like what I have to say, but one point needs clarification. When I referred to the wealthier student body at Emory, it wasn't to purposefully serve as a contrast to my situation as a middle-class male. I didn't mean to signal that there was a class conflict at any point.

On the contrary, having wealthy friends was one of the most fun parts about Emory. Great vacations ... indiscriminate parents' weekend dinners ... I had a blast, and I still enjoy a wealth of connections in cities nationwide because of my choice of Emory for undergrad. And being around a generally well-off group of classmates introduced me to a single type of person for whom I gained a great deal of respect: the modest rich guy. Totally lacking pretense, this member of the species somehow manages to exercise his privilege so sparingly that he humbles those around him.

And I'll tell you what else didn't bother me that people on these discussion boards have warned you all about: the Emory students with the chips on their shoulders. In my experience, the people who were saying they had chips on their shoulders were people who weren't doing as well for themselves in college. Somehow every guy or gal with a chip on her shoulder had it covered up by the well-pressed suit that he or she was wearing to a President's Meeting or a Dinner with the Dean. I suppose the Dean probably has a chip on his shoulder too. Shoulder chips. bull.

In one of the two previous posts someone claimed that I am engaging in a rant against Emory. Receiveth thou the joyful word. I love Emory University. If you leave Emory without a world of possibilities open to you then you have disastrously misused the three (in my case four) years that you have spent in the proximity of the campus' boundless resources. Emory, even without the D1 sports, has a fantastic intramural sports program in which all of the grad schools readily participate. Though recent efforts to promote inter-campus rivalries have fizzled out, even the D3 athletics can get interesting sometime (with soccer being the most popular; notable mention goes to the baseball games which are played on another very well-kept field).

I really am here to help about Emory. I like to make jabs because of the choice that I am personally making, but all in all you can ask for either my personal or my unbiased opinion and I can give you either. Just don't ask me about fat girls in capris.

Please understand that I was in no way attempting to conceal my immaturity in my previous post. I fully acknowledge and embrace it. I am a 22 year old male who likes to play in the dirt with his buddies, make money, get tail, work out, and travel (in order of importance). I have no children, little family, and no significant other. I don't think my perspective about law school would be very compatible with yours, so I can understand why you may discount my argument as incredible. Be wary of generally invalidating it, though. It's important for all the contributors here to remember that LSD draws a certain type of applicant/accepted student, and that the discussion in which you find yourself immersed here will differ greatly from that which you have with many of your fellow classmates (several of whom will certainly be as immature as I am).

People like us get put in study groups together or assigned to projects together, though, so it's helpful if we can at least respect one another for having gotten there in the first place.

My respect for Emory University was apparent in my previous e-mail, so don't think that I am trying to sway students away from there. I would like kindred souls to understand, though, that exercising other options may ameliorate certain frustrations that a guy like me experiences at Emory.

wmroyal, you started off well, and your argument had merits at the beginning, but then you totally killed your credibility. Your launching into salvos about ugly and fat girls and rich people and sports really reveals your immaturity. There are valid arguments for attending UGA. Yours isn't one of them.

PreLawGeek, I'm an Emory grad who has been accepted to both Emory and UGA. Same username on LSN. I'll most likely be attending UGA with in-state tuition and a scholarship that won't cover more than my books.

I just saw someone post that ATL biglaw firms dig deeper for Emory grads. I think that's probably true. I also think that Emory has better name recognition (though it doesn't extend across the mississippi except for minor exceptions in st. louis and chicago). I know that Emory will also have better technological resources, a better library, and prettier classrooms. Emory's lawns will be manicured immaculately. In general, the students that you meet who choose to attend Emory will be wealthier and more well-traveled. They will boast more ethnic, regional and religious diversity than you have ever seen, and they will be shifted to the political left of UGA's class (though not by as large a gap as one may expect). Atlanta is more cosmopolitan than Athens, but Athens anchors a solid rotation of musical talent, boasts fine cuisine and provides a lower cost of living. You're going to be able to go out for Thai, enjoy seasonal festivals, or see a professional weekday theatre production in both places. A pure guess (from a lifetime resident) would put Athens' cost of living at 75% of Atlanta's.

But let me get to the meat. I see, arguing for Emory, a married contributor from Boston, a contributor who is partially relying on a study that has some unavoidable flaws and an uncomfortably small sample size, and two individuals that ended their posts with "That's what I think" (this and "Here's what I think" at the beginning of a post both enrage me). I probably have very little in common with these people except that I would like to go to law school. Some of them may be smarter than I am and some may be dumber. Hopefully they're all dumber ... but I won't bank on it, especially considering that it's easy for a fellow with a 163 on the LSD boards to feel like he should only speak when spoken to. Congratulations to all of you HLS and yale and stanford folks. I'll try to transfer up to a school that's almost as good as yours if I don't stay too drunk while I'm at UGA.

PLG, as a lifetime georgia resident who has spent a massive amount of time at both places (with the most time, by far, having been spent at Emory), I urge you to consider your options thoroughly. If you go to Emory for law school, you will be surrounded by extraordinarily smart and unattractive people, many of whom maintain an attitude of baseless arrogance. The only think that disgusts me more than an arrogant ugly person is a fat girl in capris. You will receive an incredible education at Emory while never having the opportunity to see a D1 college sporting event. I would argue that the profs at UGA will be as worthy a group of classroom teachers as those at Emory. The Emory profs, I would contrarily argue, will be typically more highly regarded in their academic fields, especially in regards to their published works. In Athens, you will be surrounded by good-looking and energetic young people in a college town. In Atlanta and North Druid Hills, you will be surrounded by wealthy families in a beautiful residential neighborhood and the students will be more ambitious and professional than those at UGA.

Oh, and based on the new data, UGA = 57k. Emory = 153k.

Take into account two things about me before you form an opinion on this post. 1. I come from a middle class family. 2. I spent four years at Emory and part of my decision is based upon just needing a change of pace.

If anyone wants to argue about a point in this e-mail ... including my aversion to the study mentioned above, fat girls in capri pants, or professorial quality at either school, please consider PMing me unless it is something from which you think all contributors to these boards may profit.

When I come to this thread, I expect to see posts by individuals that are experiencing a very cathartic moment. They are 100% certain of where they will be after a long period of uncertainty. It is cleansing and exciting to be able to mentally migrate to the next step of the process after having played the waiting game for so long, and I would like to see what that looks like for other people. This is my favorite thread on this website. I've been reading here for months but not really posting. I would really appreciate it if only people who were absolutely positive of where they are going posted on here. Seeing "pretty sure about X ..." and "If such and such doesn't ... then I'll be ..." just kind of cheapens the whole spirit of this thread. Again, you'll see that I haven't posted much. And I don't want to seem pushy ... I just really like this thread.

Spoke to the Assistant Director of Law Admissions today about scholarships. He asked if I was a resident or non-resident before he answered my question, then, upon learning that I am indeed a resident, he told me that scholarship information would be in the mail this week and should arrive, at the latest, by the end of next week. Not much more information than the OP, but perhaps the distinction b/w resident and non-resident may clarify the absence of some letters in worried applicants' mailboxes.

Agreed. Athens would be really tough without a car unless you lived right on campus. I consider a car to be a necessity if living in a town that has a mediocre to poor public transit system. So I would really only get rid of my car if I were to end up in DC or another large city for law school. It sounds like you may be less attached to your automobile than I am, but I would still wait until I were there before I made a major decision like selling my means of transportation.